--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If you scapegoat someone, it's a third…" description: "\"If you scapegoat someone, it's a third party that will be aware of it. It won't be you. Because you will believe you are doing the right thing.\" — Rene..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d1/rene-girard-8541_believe_if-you-scapegoat-someone-it-s-a-third-pa_75836.jpg" --- # If you scapegoat someone, it's a third party that will be… ![“If you scapegoat someone, it's a third party that will be aware of it. It won't be you. Because you will believe you are doing the right thing.” quote by Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d1/rene-girard-8541_believe_if-you-scapegoat-someone-it-s-a-third-pa_75836.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d1/rene-girard-8541_believe_if-you-scapegoat-someone-it-s-a-third-pa_75836.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d1/rene-girard-8541_believe_if-you-scapegoat-someone-it-s-a-third-pa_75836.jpg) > “If you scapegoat someone, it's a third party that will be aware of it. It won't be you. Because you will believe you are doing the right thing.” [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Scapegoating shifts blame onto another, allowing the perpetrator to maintain a self‑image of moral correctness while the victim bears the stigma. **In simple terms:** Blame is displaced onto a third party. Key Takeaway Self‑justification hides responsibility. Themes Power dynamics Moral self‑deception Social scapegoating Responsibility avoidance Group cohesion Mood Reflective Critical Skeptical Type Philosophical Sociological Moral When to use this quote - Organizational conflict - Political propaganda - Family disputes - Legal trials - Online harassment Key Concepts Scapegoat mechanism Moral psychology Social identity Practical Applications - Conflict resolution training - Ethical leadership workshops Questions to Reflect On - Why do we prefer to blame others rather than confront our own faults? - How can recognizing scapegoating change group behavior? A Different Perspective Some argue scapegoating can unify a group against a perceived threat, but it often entrenches injustice. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Believe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe/) [Doing right](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doing-right/) [Doing the right thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doing-the-right-thing/) [Party Aware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/party-aware-982124/) [Right thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/right-thing/) [Scapegoat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scapegoat/) [Scapegoat Party](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scapegoat-party-982123/) [Third party](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/third-party/) [Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/will/) ## Related quotes > [Learning that we have a scapegoat is to lose it forever and to expose ourselves to mimetic conflicts with no possible resolution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/learning-that-we-have-a-scapegoat-is-to-lose-it-forever-and-to-expose/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [A scapegoat remains effective as long as we believe in its guilt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/a-scapegoat-remains-effective-as-long-as-we-believe-in-its-guilt/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [Having a scapegoat means not knowing that we have one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/having-a-scapegoat-means-not-knowing-that-we-have-one/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [Each person must ask what his relationship is to the scapegoat. I am not aware of my own, and I am persuaded that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/each-person-must-ask-what-his-relationship-is-to-the-scapegoat-i-am/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [“success is about doing the right thing, not about doing everything right.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-keller/success-is-about-doing-the-right-thing-not-about-doing-everything/) [Gary Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-keller/) > [Being trustworthy requires: Doing the right thing. And doing things right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-peppers/being-trustworthy-requires-doing-the-right-thing-and-doing-things/) [Don Peppers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-peppers/) > [Sometimes you have to steer away from the crowd in order to be a better person. It's not always easy, that's for sure. 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You should just do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-smith/you-should-never-be-proud-of-doing-the-right-thing-you-should-just-do/) [Dean Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-smith/) > [It's all about doing the right things at the right times and I believe I can win everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-cross/it-s-all-about-doing-the-right-things-at-the-right-times-and-i/) [Rob Cross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-cross/) > [Money will come to you when you are doing the right thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-phillips/money-will-come-to-you-when-you-are-doing-the-right-thing/) [Michael Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-phillips/) > [Doing the right things is more important than doing things right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ko-wen-je/doing-the-right-things-is-more-important-than-doing-things-right/) [Ko Wen-je](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ko-wen-je/) ## More by Rene Girard > [“There is no culture without a tomb and no tomb without a culture; in the end the tomb is the first and only cultural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/there-is-no-culture-without-a-tomb-and-no-tomb-without-a-culture-in/) [René Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [The true Resurrection is based not on the mythical lie of the guilty victim who deserves to die, but on the rectification of that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/the-true-resurrection-is-based-not-on-the-mythical-lie-of-the-guilty/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [“The good son imitates the father with such passion that father and son become each other's chief stumbling block - a situation the indifferent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/the-good-son-imitates-the-father-with-such-passion-that-father-and/) [René Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [Individualism is a formidable lie.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/individualism-is-a-formidable-lie/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [Instead of blaming victimization on the victims, the Gospels blame it on the victimizers. 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The unity of the world's nations was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/so-long-as-globalization-was-slow-in-coming-everyone-hoped-and-prayed/) [René Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [“Nietzsche is a marvelous antidote to all fundamentally anti-Biblical efforts to turn mythology into a kind of Bible, and that is the project of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/nietzsche-is-a-marvelous-antidote-to-all-fundamentally-anti-biblical/) [René Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [“Even in the most closed cultures men believe that they are free and open to the universal; their differential character makes the narrowest cultural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/even-in-the-most-closed-cultures-men-believe-that-they-are-free-and/) [René Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [Each person must ask what his relationship is to the scapegoat. I am not aware of my own, and I am persuaded that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/each-person-must-ask-what-his-relationship-is-to-the-scapegoat-i-am/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [“We must renounce the gambit of "good" and "bad" - even in its inverted form. We must acknowledge that misapprehensions abound, that violence is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/we-must-renounce-the-gambit-of-good-and-bad-even-in-its-inverted-form/) [René Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [I am fundamentally an anthropologist and a rationalist. What I say is that human societies are very different from what specialists call 'animal society'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/i-am-fundamentally-an-anthropologist-and-a-rationalist-what-i-say-is/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) [Explore all 71 Rene Girard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) ## More Believe quotes > [I actually think acting is a form of self-hypnosis. You have to be hyper, hyper aware of what's going on around you. You have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julianne-moore/i-actually-think-acting-is-a-form-of-self-hypnosis-you-have-to-be/) [Julianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julianne-moore/) > [Some people still believe you should just fall in line with what's going on - and that's scary. 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